About Me and My Blog

I'm a lifelong resident of pre-hipster, pre-gentrified Brooklyn. All things artisanal or vintage don't impress me. My house isn't a brownstone. I drive a SUV, not a bike. Plant-based organic food is probably the only “hip” thing about my lifestyle. I cook vegan for a family of five big eaters. I shop at a food co-op, a huge fruit & vegetable store, Amazon, greenmarkets and occasionally a supermarket with a good health-food aisle. I use no animal products at all (meat, fish, dairy, eggs). I avoid GMOs, high fructose corn syrup, pesticides, food dyes, preservatives, partially hydrogenated oil (trans fats), artificial ingredients, and non-organic sugar, though it’s not always possible. The one non-vegan thing I'm willing to use is honey.

From the starting-point of a typical American diet, our current way of eating has evolved over about 10 years. The first change we made was to follow the advice of my son’s neurologist to reduce ADHD symptoms: cut out refined sugars and starches, food dyes and preservatives. The diet works great for him and is healthy for the rest of us. I converted all my recipes to use whole grains such as brown rice, and sweeteners that have a lower glycemic index such as honey, agave and maple syrup. Early on, health food stores and Amazon’s organic grocery department became my primary sources in the hunt for ingredients, breakfast cereals and snacks. I learned to make a lot of things from scratch because prepared foods were no longer an option. I learned about how food choices affect wellness, and read labels carefully. I started to care deeply about issues that hadn’t bothered me before such as hormones, antibiotics and cruelty in factory farming, and started buying organic meat and dairy and cage-free eggs. I learned that consuming animals leads to "western" diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, and that more than even a small amount of animal protein contributes to cancer. I moved on to serving less meat and more vegetables. But we didn’t make the jump to veganism until about a year ago. Then, effortlessly, simply by eating plants instead of animals, I lost 25 pounds and lowered my cholesterol enough to stop taking medication.

The recipes on my blog are the ones I make often and that my family enjoys most. Cooking from scratch can be time-consuming but I try to make my recipes as quick and simple as possible. In the interest of frugality and cabinet space-saving I’ve included many copycat recipes for ingredients such as spice blends and brown sugar. My hope is that other ordinary home cooks find my blog and see how easy, delicious and satisfying plant-based cooking can be.